Sallie B. Capps Papers:

A Guide

Encompassing the years 1869 through 1943, the papers
reflect the life of Sallie B. Capps as a young lady in Sherman, Texas, as a
wife and mother in Fort Worth, and as an activist dedicated to furthering the
progress of education in her area of Texas. They contain journals, correspondence, literary works, clippings, financial
records, diaries, scrapbooks, broadsides, reports, programs, handbooks, and
grade reports.

Sallie A. Brooke Capps, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. John Brooke, was
born, spent her childhood, and was educated in Sherman, Texas. She attended
North Texas Female College, later named Kid Key College.

In 1887, she married William Capps, and they made their home in Fort
Worth. William Capps became a prominent attorney, businessman, and the editor
of The Fort Worth Record. William and Sallie B.
Capps had three children: Alba (Mrs. Henry G. Lucas), Mattie Mae (Mrs. Frank M.
Anderson), and Count Brooke.

Sallie B. Capps was actively involved in the promotion of education
during much of her life. She helped to organize the Fort Worth Kindergarten
Association and was also its president from 1905 until 1919. For many years she
was a vice president of the Texas Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teachers
Associations. From 1911 until 1929, Sallie B. Capps served as secretary for the
board of regents of the College of Industrial Arts, now Texas Woman's
University in Denton, Texas. A dormitory there was named in her honor.

Sallie B. Capps was a longtime member of and dedicated volunteer for
St. Andrew's Episcopal Chirch in Fort Worth. She was also a charter member of
the Fort Worth Woman's Club.

In 1910, the Capps family purchased a home at 1120 Penn Street, Fort
Worth, which has since become a Recorded Texas Historical Landmark called the
Pollock-Capps House. Mattie Mae Capps continued to live in this house after her
marriage to Frank M. Anderson. Sallie B. Capps died there in 1946 at the age of
eighty-one.

Journals, correspondence, literary works, clippings, financial
records, diaries, scrapbooks, broadsides, reports, programs, handbooks, and
grade reports. Encompassing the years 1869 through 1943, the papers
reflect the life of Sallie B. Capps as a young lady in Sherman, Texas, as a
wife and mother in Fort Worth, and as an activist dedicated to furthering the
progress of education in her area of Texas.

Among the papers reflecting her personal life are journals, diaries,
clippings correspondence, programs, and reports. A presidential inauguration
program 91909) for William Howard Taft is also included.

The educational work of Sallie B. Capps is represented primarily in
the form of correspondence and various printed material. The 1909 Club Woman's Argosy contains a photograph of
Sallie B. Capps and an article mentioning her as the president of the Fort
Worth Kindergarten Association. Other printed material illustrates her
involvement in the Texas Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teachers Associations,
a forerunner of the PTA.

From 1911 until 1929, Sallie B. Capps served as secretary for the
board of regents of the College of Industrial Arts (hereafter referred to as
C.I.A.). Papers from this period primarily include correspondence, handbooks,
and programs. Much correspondence deals with the selection of a C.I.A.
president in 1924. This correspondence is arranged according to the nominee who
is the subject of each letter: Annie Webb Blanton, Lindsen Blayney, C. D. Judd,
R. J. Turrentine, and E. V. White. Correspondence relating to the C.I.A. board
study of rules governing faculty in 1928 is arranged alphabetically according
to the 28 colleges that responded to the survey. Miscellaneous C.I.A.
correspondence and printed material is arranged chronologically. Of special
interest is information regarding the first major controversy at the C.I.A. in
1925, involving the resignation of president Lindsey Blayney. Also included is
printed material from C.I.A. quarter centennial events in 1928.

Papers relating to William Capps primarily reflect his business and
political involvement from 1914 to 1916, especially a conflict with Frank
Norris concerning prohibition. Most of the material regarding the Capps
children reflects their school activities and includes grade reports,
scrapbooks, diaries, and yearbooks. The Bristol School yearbook of 1909
contains a photograph and 2 entries concerning Mattie Mae Capps.

The photographs series mainly contains snapshots and negatives of the
Capps family and their acquaintances. Only one photograph is dated. A formal,
undated photograph features William and Sallie B. Capps with other C.I.A.
dignitaries.

Organization

The Sallie B. Capps Papers are organized in three series. Series I is subdivided according to her personal
life and her educational work. Series II is subdivided as
to Sallie's husband, William, and their three children, Alba (Mrs. Henry G.
Lucas), Mattie Mae (Mrs. Frank M. Anderson), and Count Brooke. Series III is divided only according to photographs in which some person is
identified, photographs without identification, and negatives.

Access

Open for research.

Literary Rights

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.

These materials are indexed under the following headings in the catalog
of The University of Texas at Arlington Library. Researchers desiring
materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog
using these headings.

Certain items have been
removed from the Sallie B. Capps Papers. Four publications, three portfolios of
photographs, and a report have been cataloged. A 1907 map of Texas was placed
in the Virginia Garrett Cartographic History Library. Six newspapers have been
placed with the Garrett newspaper collection. Artifacts that were received with
the papers are also housed separately. For more information about these items,
request the holdings file.

Approximately three boxes of material from the Sallie B. Capps Papers
were deaccessioned. This material was comprised of the following: duplicate
copies; bank statements, receipts, and check stubes, 1930-1961; newspaper and
magazine clippings which provide advice about running a household, n.d.;
children's school papers; magazines, 1941-1942; and miscellaneous printed
material and memorabilia.

In 1974, Historic Fort Worth, Inc. donated the Sallie B. Capps Papers
without restrictions to the Special Collections Division, The University of
Texas at Arlington Library. The papers were delivered by Mrs. Richard Lee
Brown, who stated that the former owners of the Pollock-Capps House had left
the papers behind after the house had been purchased by the Fort Worth Junior
League for Historic Fort Worth, Inc. The papers were originally called the
Pollock-Capps Papers; however, the name was changed when it was determined that
the Pollock family had no connection to the papers.

Printed material and College of Industrial Arts (hereafter
referred to as C.I.A.) correspondence regarding Annie Webb Blanton. Includes
The Club Woman's Argosy containing photograph of
Sallie B. Capps and article about the Fort Worth Kindergarten Association.